The difference, I suppose, between prodigies and late bloomers is that the latter are basically lazy, unfocused procrastinators. Ha, ha! Just kidding! As a budding late bloomer, I like to start things out with some self-deprecating humor. It lightens the mood, and helps me cope with the stress of being asked thousands of times: “Are you done with that book yet?”

The simple answer to the late bloomer/prodigy dichotomy is that everyone is different. True, but how? Malcolm Gladwell examined this question in a wonderful New Yorker article a few years back. Gladwell relied on the research of University of Chicago economist David Galenson, who posited that while the creative processes of prodigies tends to be “conceptual” (they have a strong idea and they execute it), for late bloomers it is more an “experimental” method, involving such activities as research and trial and error. (Hmm… sounds familiar.)